Rearranging Fate | Tokyo Revengers x OC

121 • Backlash

"I think I'm staying in Osaka."

In the end, Reina didn't attend Harui's funeral, even after the Haitani brothers and Izana waited outside her room the whole morning. Izana also stayed behind, sitting with his back pressed against the door. That left them with the Haitani brothers attending the funeral, sitting at the farthest back, but neither came forward until the funeral hall had been cleared.

"Is that fine with you?"

"Tokyo isn't safe anymore, is it?" Crouched in front of the headstone, Mirai stared blankly at the kanji characters carved onto the glass. "More importantly, you two will go with Nanane, right? Can you tell her something for me?"

Exchanging glances with his brother, Ran stepped forward and crouched beside her. "Anything for you, kid." He took the flowers they had prepared from Rindou and placed them on the grave. The moon shone brightly above them, dimly lighting the cemetery for the three siblings. It would've been considered a beautiful night were it not for the current situation.

"Before that," she said, dusting away whatever dirt had stained her brother's grave. "How is Nanane?"

A thumb brushed against the bruises under her eyes, and Mirai lifted her head to look at Rindou, her lower lip already wobbling despite just draining her eyes of tears a few hours prior. Feeling a sob crawling up her throat, Mirai's breath hitched. Rindou immediately pulled her head to his chest, running his fingers through her hair while Ran rubbed circles on her back.

"Reina locked herself in her room," answered the younger Haitani. "She tried to hide it, but we can all hear her crying."

"She's blaming herself."

The Haitani brothers may not know what Reina's grand scheme would actually end up with, but the hushed whispers exchanged between Kokonoi and Inui, and the word 'hate her even more' that they managed to hear meant Reina deliberately missed the funeral to make people hate her more. While they couldn't care less about the sneers the people at the funeral gave her, they didn't want Mirai, of all people, to misunderstand her own sister.

"I'm...not surprised." Mirai buried herself further into her brother's chest, gripping his clothes like a lifeline. "Please tell her I don't blame her, not for Marseille and never for Rui-nii." Because it wasn't her fault, and the killer had been killed. There was no need for the guilt to continue. "Please tell her that I'll do whatever she wants me to...that I'll stay out of her way from now on."

Mirai was too powerless to do anything anyway, so she might as well stay away and make sure she wouldn't be a hindrance, directly or not.

"So please...please take care of Nanane," she pleaded, a fresh batch of tears flowing out of her eyes. "I...I can't...there's nothing I can do to help, but you...you two can. So please, please take care of Nanane. Please, please...please."

"We will. I promise you we will." Ran gently tilted her chin to face him so he could wipe her tears. "That's why you need to take care of yourself too. That's what Reina...that's what we all want."

The girl continued to sob, clinging onto Ran as if her life depended on it, and Ran pressed her closer, letting her sobs drown in his chest.

"You'll protect Nanane, right?"

"We will."

"You won't leave her or use her or betray her, right?"

"We won't, I promise you that."

And that was enough. Knowing her brothers would keep her sister safe was enough for her. Mirai would live a safe and peaceful life with Akise, given the time needed to build her foundation so she could stand strong by herself. But Reina's foundation was made of sand and rusted beams, thrown and melded together by desperation and regret. She may be standing unyieldingly on a shaky foundation, but it was still a shaky foundation. So, knowing Reina would have someone ready to catch her, ready to strengthen her foundation, was more than enough for Mirai.